


Old Man In A Cell

by HollowKingCero



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:48:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27844753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HollowKingCero/pseuds/HollowKingCero
Summary: Zuko decides to visit someone in prison.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

It has been many years since the war had ended. Peace and prosperty endured throughout that time around the world. During such a period, the young bloomed into adulthood, the adults into seniorhood, and the seniors into... well you get my meaning.

Speaking of the young blooming into adulthood, Fire Lord Zuko, with the help of Avatar Aang, was able to heal the scars that the Fire Nation had left upon the other three nations. It was a rigorous task but somehow everything was set right within a few years of trial and error.

At the end of it all, the nations could truly say that they lived together in harmony.

But even though that may be the case, the shadows of the past linger on.

Fire Lord Zuko walked the halls of a high security prison. He was not alone. Four guards accompanied him in their crimson red soldier uniforms. Once the group came upon a particular cell door, the ruler turned to face the metal door with his full body.

"I didn't think you wanted to see me again."

Hoarse and labored breaths could be heard from inside the dingy cell.

"I thought so... as well."

From his vantage point, Zuko could only make out legs set off a bunk while the upper body of the prisoner was shrouded in shadows.

"What do you want?"

More struggling inhales followed by feeble exhales.

"Come. Let us speak... face to... face."

A brief pause from the Fire Lord. Then his hand stretched outward.

One after the other, Zuko's personal detail made themselves scarce. Then he picked up a set of keys from off a nearby hook and used them to open the door.

After stepping inside, he positioned himself near the wall across from the prisoner.

"Here I am. Face to face as you've requested. What do you want?"

The prisoner positioned his hands so that his spread fingers could touch in symmetry with space between palms.

"You've grown... so much since last... I saw you."

"Twelve years would do that. Get to the point."

"Impatient... aren't we? Still have no... respect for your eld...!"

The prisoner had a coughing fit. Zuko's eyes widened as he took a step forward to help. Only, the man in front of him raised a hand in a "come no closer" sort of way. Once the man managed to regain control, the Fire Lord composed himself.

"I heard you haven't been taking the medicine the healers prescribed."

"No... I haven't."

Zuko's eyes studied the silhoutte before him.

"Why not?"

A light chuckle.

"Not used to seeing me... in such a state? Would you... like it if I was... vigorous as a goatilla?"

Zuko said nothing in response.

"Very well. If you... have to know... I see no point."

This time the Fire Lord responded. And with a raised brow no less.

"Besides living longer?"

"I've been dead since... I was bested... by _**him**_."

An image of a pacifistic young monk flashed in the prisoner's mind and his hands twitched slightly.

Rather than rub salt in the wound, Zuko decided to be the bigger man and say nothing about the monk.

"I will respect your decision even if I don't agree with it."

"Hm... it seems the saying... is true. A first time... for everythi...!"

Another coughing fit ensued. Zuko didn't attempt to come to the prisoner's aid this time around. He waited for the man to pull himself together. It felt wrong for him to do nothing in the face of the other's ailment. After spending years helping whoever he could, the choice to idly stand by was foreign to him.

The prisoner sighed when he regained control again.

"Tell me... how is your sister and... fainéant uncle?"

At the description of the latter, Zuko's eyes narrowed slightly. But maybe that was all it took for him to cease being the bigger man. Temporarily.

"After the _Avatar_ defeated you..."

Now it was the prisoner's turn to narrow his eyes.

The Fire Lord continued despite the reaction.

"...and I was established on the throne, Uncle went to Ba Sing Se to run his tea shop. He visits the palace from time to time, but I haven't seen him recently."

"And Azula?"

"She's... enjoying her freedom. We don't stay in touch."

The prisoner scrutinized Zuko with his eyes.

The Fire Lord felt uncomfortable. He figured the man would put 2 and 2 together and eventually declare the truth aloud. However, after almost a minute, the prisoner simply closed his eyes as if accepting what was told him.

"It would seem... I have not to worry... for her plight... any longer."

The man's reaction had almost utterly staggered Zuko.

While in the middle of recovering, the prisoner asked him another question.

"Have you... or your sister sired... any offspring?"

If the Fire Lord was stunned before, he was definitely struck by lightning this time. It took a while for him to come to his senses. When he had, he was chary.

"......Why do you want to know?"

The man shifted his hands so they could rest on his kneecaps.

"If possible... I would like to... see them."

Zuko snapped as fast as an eel hound could run. A spark of flames shot out of his mouth and disappeared as soon as it did.

"NO!"

A period of silence followed. It was long too. Neither the prisoner nor Zuko made a sound. Though the latter glared fiercely with clenched fists. The Fire Lord thought he had better temperament control. He soon learned that no matter how disciplined you are, something can always get under your skin. Or in this case, someone. He allowed himself to relax by exercising his breathing.

The prisoner saw the opportunity and took advantage of the window.

"I would not utter... a word to them... if you so choose. Only... a simple look will... suffice."

Zuko wanted to say no to the man again. In fact, he wanted to tell him to go jump in the boiling lake. However, a certain spectacle caught his eye. In the eyes of the prisoner before him, he saw... pleading? Was that it? Did the Fire Lord read the man's eyes correctly? It couldn't be. The man before him never showed such sentimentality before and actually meant it. This had to be a trick. If it was then he could dismiss the subject and leave without looking back. But... Zuko's gut came into play. It told him, practically screamed that this was the real deal; not some con or manipulation. Still, if the past taught him anything, it instructed him that although a tiger seal can't change its stripes, people most certainly can. He's living proof of that. And it would be hypocrital for him to not believe its possible for this prisoner to change as well.

"I'll consider your request. No promises."

The man nodded slightly.

Zuko made his way towards the exit. As he approached the door, the prisoner asked...

"Do you remember... what you said to me... on the day of Black Sun?"

The Fire Lord stopped, but said nothing. The man continued.

"I remember it... like it was yesterday. You said... that you've learned everything... on your own."

"Your point?"

"At the time, I did not understand... the meaning behind... those words and dismissed them as... ludicrous. However... I realize now that I... was the one that learned... nothing."

Zuko's eyes widened, but he did not dare turn back and show the other man as he continued speaking.

"Perhaps it is better... to learn everything independently... than to know nothing... surrounded."

The Fire Lord couldn't take anymore of the prisoner's words and so he left after locking the metal door.


	2. Chapter 2

Fire Lord Zuko paced back and forth in cogitation. His visit with the prisoner from not too long ago left his equanimity in shambles. At the same time sitting on the edge of the bed, his wife of many years observed his treading with a perpetual expression of impassiveness. She remained silent waiting for her "bedwarmer" to verbalize the chaos that caromed in his head.

Zuko eventually ranted...

"He wants to see our child. _Our_ child. And I'm supposed to roll over like a domesticated polar dog because he asked after 12 years of not wanting to see me?"

In a less than pleasing monotone, his wife replied...

"Nobody said you had to."

"I know but..."

The eyes of the prisoner had pricked the Fire Lord's heart. There was something about those windows to the soul that tore at his compassion. Not only that, but the man seemed so frail and etiolated that Zuko almost forget who he was dealing with. Which was saying something considering if there was anyone in the world the Fire Lord could never have a slip in memory about, it was that man; his precursor. The one who...

Zuko turned his head to stare into the full-length mirror positioned nearby. Right away, he spotted the blazing red scar that was permanently branded on the side of his face. He regretted it instantly and shifted to his wife.

"If it was anybody else, I wouldn't have to think twice about it. But him? The man that taught me a _permanent lesson_ , banished me from my homeland, and shot lightning at me with the intent to kill?"

His apathetic significant other already knew of the past before he had listed those examples. There were few days where she could truly say that any part of his past didn't cross her mind; even so she breathed them not unless de rigueur.

"Can't say I blame you for feeling the way you do. The guy was a monster and still could be for all we know."

Her eyes cast downward as a hand shrouded her lips.

"Although..."

Zuko's brows furrowed.

"Although what?"

Her eyes met his.

"The Avatar took his bending away correct?"

"That's how he defeated him. What's your point?"

"My point is is that experience could have affected him. Think of it as a type of castration. Once an animal loses its _things_ it becomes less prone to aggression over time."

"So you're saying he's changed because his bending was gone for so long?"

She shrugged.

"I don't know honestly. Its not like there's a book on the side effects of taking a person's bending away."

"But you do think that might be the reason why he's behaving contrary to his quintessential self."

"All I can say for sure is he's a lot less domineering than he used to be. And we both know he's not in the best condition."

Zuko hummed in thought.

"That's true. He's ill so I doubt he'll try to do anything funny. Even if push came to shove I could easily overpower him."

And then he realized something.

"If I did acquiesce to his obsecration would you have any reservations?"

"Of course I would. I'd be vacuous not to."

"Then I'm guessing the opposite choice is the right decision?"

"I never said that."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I'm concerned about our child's well-being and I won't be comfortable if you follow through."

"So I'm stuck between making my wife happy and him happy?"

"Choose wisely or you'll be sleeping in a guest chamber."

The ruler approached the bed and sat down beside her; all the while his eyes stayed locked on hers.

"You know that's not fair."

"How is protecting our child not fair?"

He raised a brow.

"Not that. What I mean is giving me the option to pick between his happiness and yours; the worst patriarch in the history of all patriarchs and the best wife in the history of all wives. You know you'd win everytime."

A rare smiled tugged at her lips.

"Ok fine. How about we find some middle ground?"

"Music to ears."

She held up two fingers.

"If you choose his happiness over mine, you won't have any backlash. But you'll have to agree to two conditions."

"And they are?"

She pointed to her index finger.

"Promise to keep our child next to you at all times with as much space as possible between both parties."

Zuko nodded.

"I can do that."

His wife pointed to the middle finger.

"Two..."

She leaned in close to his ear.

"Since I will be unhappy when this goes down, you'll need to find a way to countervail that."

Zuko could feel the heat rise in his body as she pulled back.

"I can definitely do that."

The Fire Lord leaned in close so he could kiss her but was halted by two fingers pressing against his forehead. He blinked in confusion.

"What's wrong? I thought you wanted to..."

His wife's face was once again impassive.

"I'm not unhappy yet."

"Oh... then how do you feel?"

"I'm in the mood for some food."

"What would you like?"

"Fruit tarts. Don't keep me waiting _bedwarmer_."

Shaking his head with a smile, Zuko stood up.

"As you request milady."

While he sauntered away, his lady let out a sigh.

"(You better know what you're doing.)"


	3. Chapter 3

"I hope I know what I'm doing."

Two royals, accompanied by a quartet of soldiers, advanced down an echoing passageway. The taller of the two was on the left and the smaller on the right. Fire Lord Zuko, the former, frowned in anticipation for what was to come shortly.

The child's curious eyes shifted upward.

"Did you say something father?"

Zuko glanced down.

"Just muttering gibberish. Nothing to worry about."

"Ok."

The two stared ahead once more.

A few seconds afterward, the Fire Lord asked...

"Do you remember what I told you?"

"Stay by your side unless you tell me otherwise."

"And what else?"

"Don't tell mother if something bad happens."

"And why not?"

"Because she'll be mad at father and father is scared of her when she's angry."

Zuko patted the child's head with a smile on his face.

"That's my girl."

Not too much time pass before the pair arrive at a certain cell door. The Fire Lord directed his attention to his personal detail.

"We won't be long. Stay within earshot."

"Yes my lord."

With that, the band of soldiers withdrew down the walkway.

Zuko picked up the set of keys from their usual location and used them to open the metal door. It creaked open with a harsh squeal that made the child grimace.

Once fully open, the pair heard a weakened voice from within the room.

"I was beginning to wonder... if you would return."

The tone caused the girl to clutch her Father's robes.

Zuko placed a hand on her shoulder for support(or protection) with a no nonsense countenance.

"You weren't the only one."

The pair made their way inside. As soon as they were across the threshold, the prisoner conveyed his legs off the bunk onto the floor. A long hoary beard stretched out of the shadows and came short of touching the man's thigh as he rested into a sitting position. The silouette of his head shifted and attenuating gold eyes settled on Zuko's child.

After serveral struggling intakes and raspy exhales, the man asked...

"Is she your... offspring?"

"She is."

The intimidating eyes in the darkness was fixiated continually on her as if she were a fire ferret and he was the pythonaconda. His gaze engendered the girl to move behind her father.

"My eyes have trouble... distinguishing from this... interval. Draw closer."

Zuko remained silent for a few seconds before leading his daughter to stand directly across from the prisoner.

In cerebration, the man regarded the child's appearance and stature. After making some mental notes, he asked...

"Her mother's... pedigree?"

The Fire Lord's brows twitched. He figured the prisoner would want the full history of his child's other family. But all the same he hesitated.

"......It doesn't matter. She's of the Fire Nation."

"A commoner or... noble?"

Zuko narrowed his eyes.

"As I said... **it does not matter**."

"Can she firebend?"

Zuko didn't reply at all. This is where he would draw the line concerning this probing path. He and the prisoner's eyes were locked in an ephemeral stare off.

At the end, the prisoner conceded and closed his eyes.

"Very well. It is your deci...!"

He started coughing with the side of his fist inches from his mouth. It wasn't as alarming as the last time Zuko had been present, but it did bother the father and daughter. The girl vacated from behind the Fire Lord and eyed the prisoner in concern.

"Are you sick?"

Inbetween coughs with his eyes towards the floor, the man replied...

"I'm... fine..."

Once the prisoner calmed, he looked to the Fire Lord's daughter.

"Just a little... under the weather..."

She directed her vision towards her father.

"Father, he needs medicine."

With a solemn expression, Zuko responded...

"I know."

"Then why don't you ask one of the healer's to give him some?"

Zuko didn't say anything in response. He merely stared at the prisoner.

"Father?"

Rather than allow the girl to pester him with any more inquiries, the prisoner answered...

"The Fire Lord is... honoring my request."

The girl turned with her fizzog full of confusion.

"Request?"

The siloutte nodded.

"I petitioned that he... not give me medicine."

She frowned.

"But why? My mother always told me that if you're sick then you should take some."

The man chuckled lightly as if he found what she uttered amusing.

"Compassionate little one... aren't you? What is... your name?"

In a respectful manner, the girl straightened herself and performed the Fire Nation hand sign plus a small bow.

"My name is Izumi."

The prisoner smirked at the Fire Lord.

"It seems... _**this one** _ has... respect for... elders."

Zuko's eyes sharpened.

The girl proceeded to ask...

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your name sir?"

The silouette's eyes returned to the small child with slight curiosity behind him.

"(He hasn't informed her about me. It is understandable I suppose.) Call me O."

The girl raised a brow.

"O? Is that all?"

"My true name is... but smoke and... a shadow of... the past. As of now, all I am... is O."

At that moment, the Fire Lord decided to say...

"It's time for us to go Izumi."

She nodded in her father's direction before showing her nation's sign of respect to the prisoner again.

"It was nice meeting you mister O. I pray to Agni that you change your mind about taking medicine."

The man hummed briefly in thought as they headed towards the door.

Before they made it out O announced...

"On the proviso that you... return in the future... I will no longer... repudiate medicine."

The pair stopped. Zuko was staggered. To him it was as if a badgerfrog had articulated actual words.

His daughter on the otherhand blinked in confusion and looked back.

"You will?"

O nodded.

"I am a man... of my word. Ask your... father and he'll... verify."

Izumi smiled.

"I believe you. Maybe we can play Pai Sho together."

Now it was the prisoner's turn to smile with a chuckle.

"Perhaps...!"

His coughs stirred intemperately this time around. The girl was perturbed by the scene.

Zuko, not wanting his daughter to experience the feeling of helplessness, placed a comforting hand on her back and said...

"Don't worry. I'll see to it O is looked after."

Izumi acknowledged her father's words by nodding as he escorted her out and locked the door. While they traipsed away from the cell, the girl couldn't help but stare back in the direction from whence they were departing. Her heart felt stricken for the man. And at the same time she also couldn't explain an infinitesimal sense of intrinsic interrelation between them.


	4. Chapter 4

"Come again? I'm not sure I heard you right."

"He said he would take medicine if Izumi stops by again."

Lying on their sides with elbows for head support, the Fire Lord and Fire Lady stared each other in the eyes as they lie underneath blankets from the chest downward. Candles illuminated their tenebrous bedchamber with flames that danced in the moonlight.

Zuko's wife let out a groaning listless breath.

"Why can't your side of the tree be straightforward?"

Zuko half smiled while lifting her hand to his face and planting a kiss on the backside.

"On behalf of my family, I apologize."

A rare pleased smirk tugged at her lips.

"Doting, how nice."

"You deserve it after what I put you through today."

The couple leaned their heads in close in order to lock lips. After about five seconds they pulled away. The Fire Lord's wife looked away out the corner of her eyes and he could tell there was more she wanted to say.

"I already know what you're going to do Zuko. All I ask is that you make certain that he doesn't turn Izumi into a clone of your meshuga sibling."

The Fire Lord brooded over the person his significant other had alluded to. Even after years of a mutual unpropagated moratorium, he had to question if his sister would eventually return and open up a jar of beetle worms. There was also the off-chance that she found a life for herself, which Zuko prayed to Agni was the case so that he wouldn't have to be on guard more than he would care to admit. Still, it has been a long while and he is less paranoid than the first couple of years following their last encounter.

In the next moment, the royal couple heard a booming sound of thunder which disrupted their conversation.

The two glanced over to the window and saw flashes of light highlighting the open space within the grille.

"Storm's finally here."

"Yeah."

She smiled.

"Its about time."

Zuko gave his wife a look.

"You like storms?"

The euphoria his wife emitted was practically palpable.

"Like is an understatement. I have a predilection for them."

Another sharp resounding thunder echoed which was much grander than the former accompanied by howling winds and the soft patter of rain.

"Why?"

She looked his way.

"Because the Fire Nation's weather is mostly sun perennially and its pleasant when the weather shifts to a downpour every once in a while. Believe or not, sometimes I go outside and loll in the rain if its moderate."

He raised a brow.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you're secretly a waterbender by nature."

The Fire Lady simulated diffident lineaments.

"It is not so my lord. Please do not suspect me of inveigling you. If so, I'd do _anything_ to evince my true disposition."

Deciphering what his significant other was conducting, Zuko decided to play along.

"Anything? I suppose I could vouchsafe approbation tout de suite."

"How magnanimous of you. I will begin at once."

From there, she lifted the bedsheet over their heads.

Meanwhile late into the stormy night...

Izumi tossed and turned in her sleep.

"I didn't know..."

Inside her dream, she saw an old man with a long grey beard and a sickly pale complexion. In addition, his entire form was transparent.

_"You had..."_

He coughed several times.

_"...the power to save but... allowed me to fade... into oblivion."_

Tears currently cascaded down her cheeks.

"But father said that he would take care of you."

The man lowered his head while gasping for breath.

_"The Fire Lord... has many... to look after. His eyes... are prioritized towards... the citizens first. I am but... picayune to him."_

And then the old man became more and more transparent.

The girl reached out for him.

"Please don't disappear Mister O...!"

Her hand passed through his body as if he were a ghost. All the same, the man's form shined reddish orange before the embers that was once O blew away and soon faded from existence.

"I'M SORRY! PLEASE COME BACK!"

In the next moment, Izumi sat up in bed with with a glistening river of tears tracing across her cheeks and she was hyperventilating.

Once Izumi had realized that she had woken up from a nightmare, she underwent the process of steadying her breathing as her father had instructed her. After that was accomplished, she wiped her face dry and contemplated whether or not the slumbering vision was a premonition.

"(Mister O. Are you about to go away? Do you need my help?)"

Her young mind couldn't be swayed to the left or the right due to how disconcerted she was. Pro tem, she decided to wait until morning when she was in a better frame of mind to ruminate on the ordeal. And so, she lie back and closed her eyes as the storm subsisted outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The thing about storms with Zuko's wife may be fabricated.


End file.
